AOL outages and service status in Sugar Land, Texas

Problems in the last 24 hours in Sugar Land, Texas

The chart below shows the number of AOL reports we have received in the last 24 hours from users in Sugar Land, Texas and surrounding areas. An outage is declared when the number of reports exceeds the baseline, represented by the red line.

Community Discussion

Tips? Frustrations? Share them here. Useful comments include a description of the problem, city and postal code.

Beware of "support numbers" or "recovery" accounts that might be posted below. Make sure to report and downvote those comments. Avoid posting your personal information.

AOL Issues Reports

Latest outage, problems and issue reports in social media:

• 
  Paul Walsh (@Paul__Walsh) reported 8 minutes ago

  People keep asking why Apple allowed OpenAI to build a ChatGPT integration for Messages. Do get to the point, I don’t think Apple anticipated a company using the permissions required by ChatGPT specifically to read, analyse and store people’s Messages when the Messages app includes iMessage and not just SMS. The entire point of iMessage is that it’s rich media *and* end to end encrypted. The permissions OpenAI needs exist for legitimate software, and Apple warns people before granting them. Backup software needs Full Disk Access to back up protected files. Security software needs it to inspect files for malicious activity. Disk utilities need it to search, recover and manage protected files. It’s similar to WebView. It gave developers a way to display parts of an app that could change without requiring a new app release and App Store review, such as terms of service, privacy policies and other remotely hosted content. In 2014, I predicted developers would eventually use WebView across every major app, with some apps built almost entirely inside it. I also warned this would create a security problem because WebView had no protection against dangerous links or malicious code typically found on webpages. Developers could make a WebView look identical to the native app, so people wouldn’t know whether they were using the app itself or interacting with a website. Today, in-app security is a multibillion dollar industry because it’s obvious that opening links inside an app might not be as safe as it should be. Most predictions, especially in the context of digital risk, are not believed by a lot of people. But they become obvious eventually. Today, I’m saying OpenAI’s ChatGPT integration with Apple Messages is more dangerous for some people than almost anything else on the market. Of course someone can take screenshots and send them to the FBI, repeat something they were told, or deliberately share a private conversation. That completely misses the point. None of those things is equivalent to giving an AI service automated access to read, analyse and store entire message histories involving everyone someone communicates with. Comparing deliberate human disclosure with automated access at scale ignores the capability that makes this fundamentally different. And why it removes the main benefit of end to end encryption. I can’t comprehend how security professionals can defend anything that undermines the purpose of end to end encryption by saying "but encryption isn’t broken". Protecting messages while they’re being transmitted means very little if an agent can systematically read, analyse and store them before they’re sent or after they’re received. Apple permissions have legitimate purposes. This particular use of them is the problem. During the early 2000s, I advocated for browser extensions. During the mid to late 2000s, before the first iPhone when mobile web didn't exist, I advocated for mobile web instead of WAP. In 2015, I advocated for chatbot integrations across messaging platforms and business tools. I’m a developer advocate, an open standards advocate, child safety advocate, and privacy advocate. I co-founded 2 W3C initiatives, including the Mobile Web Initiative, where I was tasked with rewriting Tim Berners-Lee’s vision of "One Web". And was a significant contributor to 8 technical specifications, including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. I care about humanity. I don’t advocate for one thing in isolation from everything else. I’m a technical expert in specific areas with OSINT skills and 30 years across web, telecom, and mobile. 💡 I consider every stakeholder affected by open standards, technology, and legislation. Sometimes convenience justifies a privacy tradeoff. Sometimes privacy should take priority over security, and sometimes security should take priority over privacy. None of these should be treated as an absolute regardless of the consequences. In 2017, the PKI Consortium asked me to advise them privately and write about the impact DV SSL certificates and HTTPS Everywhere were having on anti phishing security. I faced fierce criticism from privacy advocates who argued that the connection should be encrypted even if the person on the other end was an impersonator. Those were their words. If you care, search for "Insecure Elephant in the Room". The fundamental reasons phishing works were the same when I was impersonated in 1996 when phishing was first discovered on the AOL network, the same when I wrote about it in 2017, and the same today. Now I have to argue with some security professionals defending something that undermines the purpose of end to end encryption. They need to look beyond the mechanics of software and encryption. Technology is an enabler. We need to consider human behaviour, how people will actually use a capability, and what happens when that behaviour occurs at scale. Also, the potential intent that goes beyond a website or privacy statement. I’ve faced this repeatedly over the years. Today, when I argue that government policies and age verification introduced in the name of online child safety and preventing child exploitation are actually surveillance measures, child safety advocates accuse me of not caring about children. This isn’t rocket science. Add AI to everything, even if you’re willing to accept the risks to yourself. But please don’t add AI in ways that undermine another person’s right to privacy or, depending on the context, their personal safety. Some people's lives depend on their ability to rely on end to end encryption. We're not talking about SMS. 💡Criticising the technology used to pursue an objective doesn’t mean opposing the objective.

• 
  CEOInterviews.AI (@CEOinterview) reported 11 minutes ago

  An early Polygon investor ran the comparison against his own position. Yat Siu @ysiu puts the value split at 90 to 95 percent to the application that owns the customer, with gas fees going to the chain underneath. Polymarket's private valuation is 8 billion dollars. Polygon, the chain Polymarket is built on, is a lot smaller. His analogy is the mid 90s, when AOL bought Time Warner and the ISPs were the giants of the moment. AT&T is worth a lot of money today. It is smaller than Google, Apple and Nvidia. Critical infrastructure keeps getting built. It stops being the biggest company in the room.

• 
  Syed Rezwanul Haque (@rezahaque1989) reported 11 minutes ago

  Harvest raised prices up to 1000%, and most users still can't calculate their bill until it lands. The problem isn't the price. It's that they never explain it upfront. Here I will be telling you about the new pricing model. so you can do the math before renewal does it for you. Why this happened to you? Bending Spoons ; the company behind Evernote, WeTransfer, Vimeo, Eventbrite, and AOL — bought Harvest in July 2025. Look at their track record and you'll see the same move every time: acquire, raise prices, shrink the free tier. You just watched it happen again. If you signed up before Nov 7, 2024, you were on the old flat-rate plan. Since then, you've been getting quietly migrated to the new model and it usually shows up hardest right at your renewal. What you used to pay- Simple, flat, per seat: - Pro: $11/seat/mo (annual) - Premium: $14/seat/mo (annual) No usage fees. No surprises. What you are paying now- You're on one of four tiers : Free Teams Enterprise Enterprise Plus If you're on Teams or Enterprise, you're billed one of two ways: Flex: your seat rate, plus usage fees based on what you did last period Unlimited: your seat rate, plus one fixed surcharge no matter what you did Base seat prices: Teams from $9/seat, Enterprise from $14/seat. Want profitability reports, approvals, or SSO? That's Enterprise only. Now the part nobody sees coming: Harvest doesn't publish a rate card. Based on real accounts, here's roughly how it works on Flex billing: - Projects: free up to 4 then $15 (5–10) climbing to $1,000 (151+) - Tasks: free up to 3 then $15 (4–10) climbing to $1,000 (151+) - Clients: free up to 3 then $15 (4–10) climbing to $1,000 (151+) - Invoices created: free up to 4 then $15 (5–10) climbing to $650 (51+) - Amount invoiced: free up to $3K then $15 ($3K–$20K) climbing to $650 ($200K+) On an annual plan, you get roughly 12 projects, 7 tasks, 7 clients, 50 invoices, and $50K invoiced before any of this kicks in. Cross a line, and that category starts billing you on its own, separate from everything else. One UK consultancy owner told the BBC the increase felt like "Daylight robbery" — and it's easy to see why once you see the mechanics above. Now, the small things that makes it even worse - Your trial starts on the pricier tier. You have to switch it yourself - Your first invoice looks normal. The real number shows up on your second one - Archiving someone doesn't stop the billing. You have to delete their seat - A two week freelancer still costs you a full seat - Stripe takes a cut of your invoices, then Harvest takes another - Scheduling is a separate paid add on There's no AI help. You're tracking and reporting everything by hand I talked to a founder this week who used to swear by Harvest; forecasting, budgeting, invoicing, no complaints. Then her renewal hit. She didn't get a choice. She's calling herself a "Harvest Refugee" now. So are a lot of people who loved the product but can't justify the new math anymore. If that's where you're at, the name that keeps coming up is OneSuite flat $9/seat/month, no usage fees, nothing quietly stacking on top of your bill. And it's not a stripped down copy either. It's apple to apple with Harvest, feature for feature: - Timesheets and Expense tracking with approvals - Billable rates and cost rates - Project budgeting - Time and material, fixed fee, and non billable project types - Invoicing, synced with QuickBooks Same workflow you're used to. And few more stuff extra such as - CRM, Contract and Project Management  Just none of the surprise billing. Before you panic or jump ship: go to Settings → Billing, find your renewal date, and add up your own projects, clients, tasks, and invoices against the free limits above. Know your number before Harvest tells you. best, Syed Rezwanul Haque (Reza)

• 
  JovanHuttonPulitzer™ אני לא סובל טיפשים! (@JovanHPulitzer) reported 13 minutes ago

  @RWMaloneMD #HistoryMatters - seeing your uninformed Virgina rant on #DateCenters thought I might give you something to reflect upon: AOL started in Northern Virginia. It began in 1985 in Vienna as Quantum Computer Services, became America Online, and in 1996 moved its headquarters to Dulles/Ashburn in Loudoun County. Around the same time, UUNet/WorldCom was nearby. Those companies pulled in fiber and built early server facilities. Even more important was MAE-East (Metropolitan Area Exchange–East), one of the first big internet exchange points. It started in Fairfax County / Tysons around 1992 and later moved to Loudoun to sit closer to AOL and the other networks. At one point a huge share of U.S. internet traffic passed through it. Once networks had to meet there to exchange traffic, everyone else followed. Equinix built early Ashburn facilities for that reason. After the dot-com bust, AOL faded, but it left behind unused “dark fiber,” empty buildings, and a dense interconnection hub. Local officials later marketed that leftover infrastructure to data-center developers. AOL’s old campus itself has been torn down or converted into more data centers. Why it kept growing after AOL The cluster stuck because of a pile-on of advantages: Fiber density and low latency. Once the exchanges and carriers were there, it became the cheapest, fastest place to interconnect. A commonly cited figure is that a large share of global internet traffic still touches Loudoun. Proximity to Washington. Federal agencies, defense contractors, and intelligence work created early demand for secure computing nearby. Power and land. Dominion Energy power was relatively cheap and available. Eastern Loudoun still had large industrial parcels near Dulles when the boom started. Tax policy. Virginia added a sales-and-use tax exemption on data-center equipment (servers, generators, cooling, etc.) around 2008–2010. That became one of the state’s biggest economic-development incentives and made Virginia hard to beat on cost. Network effects. Each new data center made the next one more valuable, because customers want to be next to other networks, clouds, and content providers. So: AOL and MAE-East planted the flag in the 1990s. Cheap power, leftover fiber, DC proximity, and later tax breaks turned a local internet hub into the world’s largest data-center market. Ashburn/Loudoun is still the core; growth has since spilled into Prince William and other Virginia counties as land and power in the original alley got scarce.

• 
  Zak🇵🇸BRING VALKO BACK☄Get Legacy Cast in FF7R🌸 (@Zakksu) reported 17 minutes ago

  @nasykuching Back in the 90s when I had AOL dial up I used to print all the fanfics I wanted to read offline bcuz our landline phone was always used by my mom to call family overseas So I think printing them out for personal use shouldn't be a problem so long as you aren't trying to profit🤔

• 
  SandSculptor856 🏴‍☠️ (@Michael84488352) reported 18 minutes ago

  @chadmask_msu @OleMissRebel90 I’m looking for my login for Mapquest on AOL. Hang on.

• 
  Ang•el / מלאך (@AngelCWilliams) reported 19 minutes ago

  Rabbis and Rabbonias Tell Us Eliyahu Kin Shepardic David the Prince Used Illegal AOL Punters To Harbor My Bad Boy Entertainment Account

• 
  Robert (@RobertKidd0x) reported 19 minutes ago

  I'm old enough to remember the days when people said the internet would never catch on and just be a fad. Look how far we've come from dial-up and AOL. We're at a similar beginning now with AI. When change is unavoidable, you have to embrace it, if you are to survive.

• 
  Mynxe L. Silles (@MynxeLSilles) reported 23 minutes ago

  Several things to address with AOL mail. First, have had some issues with blocking mail, not getting blocked AFTER having blocked it, repeatedly. Secondly, cut it out with the -targeted ADS with names you know are family relevant. (Prayers)

• 
  Jared (@NoMarginGuy) reported 24 minutes ago

  @SinaiLawFirm Just remember.. this is the worst these AI tools will be. We are in the AOL phase of internet development.